TECH LOBBYING FRENZY CONTINUES – Newly released tech lobbying numbers show Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, Google, Microsoft, Intel, IBM, Cisco, Facebook, Yahoo, Apple, HP and Amazon together spent more than $19 million in Washington between April and June 2010. That’s less than the first quarter of this year, when those same companies spent slightly more than $23 million, though some told us the Q2 drop is due to the fact most firms start their campaigns in January and pick up later in the year. Still, the new Q2 figure – which is itself only a small sample of the entire tech community – proves the significant lobbying force the industry has become on Capitol Hill and throughout the federal bureaucracy. We’ll break down each of those companies’ lobbying totals in just a bit.

TOP SPENDERS INCLUDE – Comcast, which shelled out more than $3.8 million last quarter – about $800,000 more than Q1 – to drum up support for its proposed NBC merger, among other issues. Also dropping some serious cash was Verizon, which spent about $4.4 million to push for such interests as an expanded R&D tax credit and USF reform; and HP, which totaled $1.6 million in lobbying dollars while it worked lawmakers on white spaces, patents and taxes. Rounding out the list are Microsoft, which spent part of its $1.85 in lobbying dollars in part to discuss cybersecurity, as well as Google, which accrued $1.3 million in lobbying expenses as it focused on broadband, cloud computing and a host of other issues.

COMMUNICATIONS DISABILITY BILL GETS MARKUP – The House Energy and Commerce Committee convenes today to markup and likely advance a tech update to the Americans With Disabilities Act, which cleared the Senate Commerce Committee with bipartisan support last week. It’s likely the House will similarly approve the measure today – though probably not without a few votes against it – putting it one step closer to its chief sponsors’ goal of reaching the floor by the month’s end, in time for the ADA’s 20th anniversary. More in a second.

BUT IS TIME RUNNING OUT? – Top House Dem staffers have told us repeatedly that the end of the month is still their target. We posed the question to Nadeam Elshami, a spokesman for Speaker Pelosi, who told us the speaker is pushing for the legislation.

“The Speaker has always been supportive of using new technologies to remove barriers and expand opportunities for people with disabilities, and she supports having the legislation considered by the House as soon as possible,” he told us. “In the same spirit of the ADA, H.R. 3101 will ensure that our laws keep pace with new technologies and enable people with disabilities to participate in opportunities that new technologies provide.”

By Tony Romm and Kim Hart

Good Wednesday morning, time for Morning Tech. It’s a sign of the times that Playboy plans to launch a SFW – that’s “suitable for work” – version of its otherwise work-unfriendly website. Shedding the brand’s more risqué nature, the new site will load up on humor – from original content to clips from shows like The Colbert Report. (h/t AP: http://bit.ly/cJNuvC)

We can’t exactly vouch for the new site, but we can promise you that we’ll always be SFW! So send us tips and suggestions to tromm@politico.com or khart@politico.com. And check us out over Twitter, @morningtech for daily updates or @tonyromm and @khart for tweets throughout the day.

** A message from Google: In Massachusetts last year, Google generated $2.2 billion for more than 43,000 businesses -- like virtual phone system Grasshopper in Needham. See Google’s impact in your state http://bit.ly/9uY2eG **

MORE ON ADA UPDATE: A House staffer close to the process told us that bipartisan discussions have touched extensively on two items: whether every device should be accessible to every person with a disability, and what standard should be applied to determine whether companies would be too burdened to meet that new requirement. Look for those two issues to come up during today’s markup.

THAT’S THE SAME SIGNAL REP. STEARNS, one of the committee’s top GOPers, sent us this week. “Although I expressed reservations over the bill, there are ongoing efforts to resolve my concerns, he told us.” My primary concern is the broad mandates to make each feature of each device and service accessible for each and almost every disability. Although we want to extend the benefit of these technologies to the disabled, I am concerned that the bill has not provided the flexibility required for innovation, but recently we met on some of these issues and I believe that we are close to working out some important compromises.”

WEATHER ENVY – While we swelter in Washington, Silicon Valley is having one of the coldest summers in 40 years, with the average high temp at 76.7 degrees. So unfair. http://bit.ly/bmX4qd

WARNER WORKS ON COMPETES – Expect Mark Warner to introduce an amendment that would study federal and private competitiveness during this Thursday’s markup of the America COMPETES Act before the Senate Commerce Committee, a lobbyist close to the process tells us.

The new proposal, a draft of which we obtained this week, would task a 15-member panel led by the secretary of Commerce to report on ways the federal government can spur innovation and better spend research dollars. So far, the amendment has the support of two committee Dems – Klobuchar and Udall, who are sponsors – and lobbyists working the beat predict it’ll garner many more. They also expect the effort to be introduced first as stand-alone legislation in the days leading up to the markup, then as a COMPETES amendment. Stay tuned.

SWEET EARNINGS FOR APPLE, which said its profit jumped 78 percent – with revenue rising to $15.7 billion (!) – thanks to the astounding popularity of iPads and iPhones (and Mac computers sold briskly as well). Criticism over the iPhone 4 antenna problems didn’t put a damper on the company’s performance and analysts said Apple’s products are “on fire.” http://bit.ly/b7Heod

PATIENT PRIVACY – National Health IT Coordinator David Blumenthal is having detailed discussions with White House Cybersecurity Czar Howard Schmidt to make sure the emerging electronic medical record exchange networks are secure as hospitals and doctors install new technologies.

Blumenthal told the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee yesterday that HHS “hired a chief privacy officer for the first time in the history of the department” and is also working with policy experts to come up with recommendations to share with medical centers. Before they can sell technology to hospitals, health IT vendors must go through a certification process to prove they have built in security and privacy protections.
“We also need to verify doctors to make sure everyone is authenticated,” he told the panel. “You don’t’ want information flowing to people who don’t deserve to have it. It needs to not only be a technical infrastructure but a policy infrastructure.”

SPECTRUM SHIFT – Momentum is growing, it seems, in favor of allowing the FCC to auction off spectrum and to give a cut of the proceeds to broadcasters that volunteer to relinquish their holdings. It’s a big shift from April, when TV stations called the FCC’s idea to reallocate some broadcast airwaves for wireless uses a “spectrum land-grab.”

But now the White House has come out in support of the plan, and Kerry and Snowe introduced a bill this week to give the FCC auction authority. And yesterday, the NAB prez Gordon Smith said in a letter to Larry Summers he would support voluntary incentive auctions, giving the FCC another crucial piece of backing to go forward with its plan to free up 500 MHz of spectrum.

Of course, there are still some points of contention. Smith said NAB would not support new fees on spectrum license holders, which runs in opposition of the Kerry-Snowe bill that includes such fees.

A CLOSER LOOK AT LOBBYING – Here’s a breakdown of some of the top tech firms and telcos that spent big bucks in D.C. – and which issues they pursued last quarter:

--Facebook spent $60k, up from roughly $41k last quarter, to talk about privacy and COPPA reform.

--IBM, however, scaled back its lobbying considerably in Q2, spending $730k – down from $1.8 mill in Q1. According to Chris Padilla, IBM’s VP of government affairs, "IBM's lobbying expenditures ebb and flow throughout the year. Traditionally, we have more activity in the first quarter as we kick off our initiatives, for example an annual meeting of our regional executive teams with those on the Hill, as well as one time expenses such as fulfilling association dues some of which are attributable to lobbying work."

--Intel also scaled back its lobbying last quarter, though to a far lesser extent than IBM, spending about $840,000 (compared to $1.1 million last quarter). So too did Cisco, which halved its D.C. dollars to $370,000.
--Yahoo and Amazon spent $550,000 and $540,000, respectively, both on par with their Q1 levels. That was true of HP as well, which spent more than $1.6 million talking to lawmakers.

--Apple, which tends to stay silent on D.C. issues, also shelled out about $330,000 over the past three months, down from the more than half a million it spent last quarter. Apple’s activity on the Hill focused quite a bit on patent, copyright and R&D credit efforts.

IP & ENTREPRENEURS – If you need an intellectual property discussion to round out your week, check out the House Committee on Small Business hearing today focusing on the impact of IP on entrepreneurship and job creation. Rick Carnes of the Songwriters Guild of America, Robert Holleyman of the Business Software Alliance and Peter Carnes on behalf of the Association for Competitive Technology will be testifying.

The focus will be on finding ways to protect entrepreneurs’ rights in the constantly changing world of content distribution, the committee tells us. And how often do you get two witnesses with the same last name to add some confusion into the mix? The fun will happen in Rayburn 2360 at 1 p.m.